WASHINGTON -- In apparent preparation for a final assault against the Nuba people who live in Sudan’s southern state of South Kordofan, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) has cut off the main evacuation routes for refugees fleeing areas already bombarded, has encircled the remaining local civilian population in the last rebel strongholds of the Nuba Mountains, and is building roads and lengthening the closest airstrip within striking range, according to new imagery released by the Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP).

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- Over the weekend, South Sudan’s leaders began the process of shutting down oil operations in their country, following on the threat to do so during negotiations with Sudan in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.

After South Sudan’s independence in July 2011, the two Sudans together occupy a critical geopolitical space linking together the Sahara, the Sahel, the Horn, and the Great Lakes. The post-separation negotiations between Sudan and newly formed South Sudan are therefore vital not only for these two nations’ future bilateral relations, but also for the stability of the region at large.

On the one-year anniversary of the commencement of the southern Sudan referendum, January 9, 2012, the Ngok Dinka people of the disputed Abyei area formally requested that the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, or CERD, immediately consider the actions of the Sudanese government against the Ngok Dinka people in Abyei.

Satellite Sentinel Project’s Co-founder George Clooney appeared on NBC’s “Rock Center” with Brian Williams on January 9 to talk about celebrity, privacy, and his “other passion,” the Satellite Sentinel Project.

Late last month, representatives from the Sudanese and South Sudanese governments met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia under the auspices of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel, or AUHIP, for yet another round of negotiations on outstanding North-South issues. Central among these issues are “financial transitional arrangements,” a euphemism for how much money Juba, along with, perhaps, the international community, can pay Khartoum to offset Sudan’s “fiscal gap” resulting from South Sudan’s secession.

Who We Are and What We Do

The Satellite Sentinel Project, or SSP, a partnership between the Enough Project and DigitalGlobe, conducts monitoring of both Sudan and South Sudan to assess the human security situation, identify potential threats to civilians, and detect, deter and document war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Enough Project provides field research, policy context, and communications strategy. DigitalGlobe provides imagery from its constellation of satellites and geospatial analysis from the DigitalGlobe Analysis Center. SSP is funded primarily by Not On Our Watch.